The Adventure Begins!!

If you are following along on Instagram (see the Connect page to link to my Instagram site), you will see that I arrived in Anguilla after 3 different flights. I left Kansas City from its new airport on a warmer-than-expected October morning. Although I was very fond of the old airport (I flew out of that airport in 1969, when it wasn’t anywhere near complete and would not officially open until a year or so later.), this new airport that takes its place is well-designed and really ‘sells’ Kansas City.

My first leg ended in Charlotte, NC. I had a 4-hour break between flights which gave me plenty of time to eat and then walk from one end of the airport to another and then yet another end of the airport. My flight gate changed 3 times! That flight finally took off and a few hours later (at 11 pm), I arrived in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The last leg of my journey would not begin until the next day. Fortunately, the airport had a hotel in it, although it was a 15-minute walk from the gate. Unfortunately, it was an incredibly noisy night, so I only got 3 non-consecutive hours of sleep!! After a nice buffet breakfast at the hotel, I walked clear across the airport to get the airline that would take me to Anguilla. Then it was back through the TSA screening (which was very efficient) and another long walk to a portion of the airport that served 3 different Caribbean airlines.

While waiting to board, I looked out at the runway and felt if looked more like I was in Atlanta than San Juan. Where were the palm trees?

Once the 9 of us (!!) were ready to board, we followed the gate attendant outside across the tarmac for about 1/2 mile and then boarded the plane. We each had a row to ourselves. The plane could have held 40 passengers. The route is flown only a few days a week, although it is busier during the high tourist season. The airline is called Silver, but their main color is magenta!

I should note that there are a few other ways to get to Anguilla without an overnight, but this one seemed the best for a woman travelling alone who had also shipped 2 big suitcases that I would have been unable to handle along with my carryon. And it worked out quite well, except for the noisy night in San Juan.

As the plane rushed down the runway, I did see a few palm trees.

Further south in the Caribbean, Tropical Storm Tammy is building into a hurricane. Our way south from Puerto Rico to Anguilla was full of big, fluffy, white (not stormy) clouds. I tried to take pics out the window of the plane, but, although I took lots of pictures of all the islands we flew over on the way, it probably mostly looks like a slew of cloud pics. The clouds tended to be heavier over the islands.

The flight, which was only an hour, “skimmed” the ocean at 11,000 feet. From Puerto Rico and its neighboring islands, we flew over the US and UK Virgin Islands. Then there was open water for about 25 minutes as we approached Anguilla. Just a few minutes before we were to land, the pilot said we were going to hit some turbulence. And did we! We were all bounced out of our seats. It was startling, but not frightening, except for the woman behind me who clearly did not enjoy flying.

Hurricane Tammy is moving north. We in Anguilla hope it just sends some rain and moderate winds while missing the island with its full force. However, I spent the morning preparing the cottage by closing all the storm shutters and buying food and water. We will see what tonight brings! Come back for the next blog post to see how I am faring on my Adventures in Anguilla!